This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 10/845,742, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,968,775, filed May 14, 2004, which in turn claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/471,926, filed May 19, 2003.
This invention relates generally to improvements in devices and systems for brewing coffee or the like. More particularly, this invention relates to an improved coffee brewer utilizing streams of heated water for turbulently agitating and stirring coffee grounds to produce a substantially fluidized bed of water-borne coffee grounds, to yield brewed coffee having improved flavor and enhanced aroma and other characteristics.
Drip-style coffee brewers are available in a wide range of different configurations and sizes for use in residential or commercial environments to produce brewed coffee. Such coffee brewers commonly include a water reservoir from which a controlled volume of water is heated and then dispensed downwardly by dripping or spraying onto coffee grounds contained within an underlying, upwardly open brew basket. The hot water intermixes with the coffee grounds to produce the desired brewed coffee beverage which is drained from the brew basket through a filter element into an underlying coffee pot such as a carafe or decanter. In one common form, the brewer includes a refillable water reservoir from which the water is delivered through a heating element for drip-flow dispensing into the brew basket. Alternately, the brewer may be coupled directly to a tap water supply or the like.
While drip-style coffee brewers of the above described type have been used extensively for many years, the flavor and other characteristics of the brewed coffee is inconsistent and, in many cases, can be of marginal or unacceptable quality. Such problems are believed to stem from inadequate and/or inconsistent intermixing of the hot water with the coffee grounds contained in the brew basket, resulting in brewed coffee exhibiting inconsistent flavor and body traits, often including unacceptable bitter taste attributes. In this regard, the downward dispensing of hot water onto the initially dry coffee grounds in the underlying brew basket can produce erosion-type channels through the coffee grounds, wherein such channels can permit a significant portion of the water volume to pass through the coffee grounds and drip from the brew basket without significantly wetting or otherwise adequately intermixing therewith. While this channeling problem can sometimes be mitigated by carefully pre-distributing the coffee grounds substantially uniformly within the brew basket, significant attention to this aspect of the coffee brewing process is seldom given.
A variety of modified coffee brewers and related brewing processes have been provided in an attempt to overcome these problems and disadvantages by providing improved intermixing between the heated water and the coffee grounds within a filtered brew basket. In general, such concepts utilize mechanical stirring devices for improving thorough contact between the heated water and the coffee grounds. While such concepts may provide brewed coffee with enhanced and/or more consistent flavor characteristics, they inherently incorporate moving parts that increase the overall complexity and cost of the coffee brewer, and are susceptible to occasional break-down to require periodic repair or replacement.
There exists, therefore, a continuing need for further improvements in and to coffee brewers and related coffee brewing processes for achieving significantly improved intermixing between heated water and coffee grounds, for providing brewed coffee of consistent high quality and improved flavor and other desirable attributes, without requiring mechanical stirring devices and their attendant disadvantages. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages.